Glendora, CA (Men’s Basketball) -- Ever since the Fighting Owl faithful learned of the addition of De’Andre Haskins to the Citrus College Men’s Basketball roster, they’ve been waiting for him to bust out and have a game that showed all of his impressive tools. Haskins finally had such a game on Saturday night as he scored a team high 16 points (his second highest offensive output of the season) and grabbed a season high eight rebounds in #5 Citrus’ 84-63 victory over Santa Monica College.
The Fighting Owls would start off Saturday’s game rather slow. Santa Monica would lead for the first 11 minutes of the contest, taking a lead as large as six points at the 11:24 mark. Citrus never panicked tying the game up at 18-18 after a Derrick Rodgers jumper in the paint, and then finally taking the lead on a fast break lay-up by Cameron Nettles off a Rodgers assist.
Citrus would push their lead to four points after a pair of Haskins free-throws, but Santa Monica scored four straight to knot the game back up at 22. Haskins came back with a fast break lay-up off a Jose Rivera assist, but Santa Monica answered with a trey by Rodney Hudson that briefly gave the Corsairs back the lead.
The Fighting Owls would recover the lead when Donnel Phifer went 3 for 4 from the charity stripe on back to back possessions, but Santa Monica responded with a Byrant Crowder dunk that tied the game back up at 27 all.
That’s when Citrus finally got in a rhythm. Randy Hunter kicked things off with a lay-up off a Rodgers assist, then Rivera drilled his first 3-pointer of the night and Rodgers finished things off with a fast break jumper that gave Citrus their largest lead of the night at seven points. The Fighting Owls would eventually enter the break up by eight, and finally in control of the contest.
In the second half it was all Citrus, all the time. Haskins went back to work, attacking the rim at will and getting the free-throw line where he went 8 of 10 in the second half alone. Haskins most impressive play however, came at the half way mark of the second half and on the defensive side of the ball.
After a defensive rebound by Santa Monica led to a fast break by the Corsairs, Santa Monica’s 6 foot 10 inch Crowder had the basket all to himself and went up for a thunderous dunk. Haskins came out of nowhere and went up and blocked Crowder’s dunk in what was arguably the most exciting play of the night.
The Fighting Owls quickly pushed their lead into double-digits leading by as much as 18 points after a Tom Granado lay-up made the score 59-41 with 14:11 to play. The Fighting Owls continued to pour it on, getting their largest lead of the night in the final two minutes, when a Keith Thompson trey made the score 84-57.
Joining Haskins on the scoring leader board was Darin Stewart who went 4 for 5 from beyond the 3-point arc and scored 12 points. Rivera would add 10 points with seven assists, while Rodgers had a game high eight dimes and Nettles a game high 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.
With the win, Citrus improves to 23-2 overall and 9-0 in WSC South play, while Santa Monica drops to 10-13 overall and 2-6 in conference games. The win also guarantees that the Fighting Owls will at least have a share of their third straight Western State Conference South Championship. With three games to play and three game lead over second place Bakersfield, all Citrus needs is one win to claim their third outright title in as many years. Citrus’ quest for that title begins on Wednesday when they travel up the 210 to take on Glendale College (13-11, 4-4). Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
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